Luis Agulló

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia

Objectives: To investigate the roles of 2 polymorphisms of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily member 1A (TNFRSF1A) gene, rs1800693 (a common variant) and rs4149584 (a coding polymorphism that results in an amino acid substitution-R92Q), as genetic modifiers of multiple sclerosis (MS), and to evaluate their potential functional im...

Attention has focused on particular neurons as the source of nitric oxide (NO) within the parenchyma of the CNS. In contrast, glial cells have been viewed mainly as potential reservoirs of L-arginine, the substrate for nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and as likely targets for neuronally derived NO because of their proximity and their expression of sol...

Although the importance of the cyclic GMP (cGMP) signaling pathway in cardiac myocytes is well established, little is known about its regulation. Ca2+-dependent translocation of nitric oxide (NO) sensitive guanylyl cyclase (GCNO) to the cell membrane has been recently proposed to play a role. The aim of this study was to determine the possible func...

Our understanding of the end-effectors involved in preconditioning protection is still very limited. This is partially due to an incomplete knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for acute sarcolemmal rupture and cell death during the first minutes of reperfusion, including the relative roles of hypercontracture-mediated sarcolemmal rupture and mi...

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have become a standard tool to correlate the structure and function of biomolecules and significant advances have been made in the study of proteins and their complexes. A major drawback of conventional MD simulations is the difficulty and cost of obtaining converged results, especially when exploring potential e...

p>Here we introduce SBMOpenMM, a python library to build Structure-Based Models (SBMs), that uses the OpenMM framework to create and run SBM simulations. The code is flexible, user-friendly, and profits from high customizability and GPU performance provided by the OpenMM platform. We demonstrate its use in the evaluation of the two-step folding pro...

The HIV-1 gp41 Membrane Proximal External Region (MPER) is recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies and represents a promising vaccine target. However, MPER immunogenicity and antibody activity are influenced by membrane lipids. To evaluate lipid modulation of MPER immunogenicity, we generated a 1-Palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC)-b...

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), the main target of nitric oxide (NO), has been proven to have a significant role in coronary artery disease, pulmonary hypertension, erectile dysfunction and myocardial infarction. One of its agonists, BAY 41-2272 (Riociguat) has been recently approved for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PHA), while so...

Introduction: The usefulness of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) as a marker of ischemia is controversial. BNP levels have predicted arrhythmias in various settings, but it is unknown whether they are related to exercise-induced ischemic ventricular arrhythmias. Material and methods: We analyzed in 63 patients (64 ±14 years, 65% male, 62% with k...

The tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, member 1A (TNFRSF1A) gene encodes the TNF-R1, one of the main TNF receptors that mediates its inflammatory actions. In a recent study, serum levels of the soluble TNF-R1 and mRNA levels of the full-length receptor were found to be significantly increased in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients carrying th...

Mechanical factors may contribute to ischemic ventricular arrhythmias. GsMtx4 peptide, a selective stretch-activated channel blocker, inhibits stretch-induced atrial arrhythmias. We aimed to assess whether GsMtx4 protects against ventricular ectopy and arrhythmias following coronary occlusion in swine. First, the effects of 170-nM GsMtx4 on the cha...

Aims: It has been shown that sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) plays a critical role in reperfusion injury. Moreover, ischaemic post-conditioning (PoCo) results in protein kinase G (PKG) activation which has been proposed to modulate phospholamban (PLB) and SERCA. We assessed whether PLB phosphorylation contributes to the cardioprotect...

Introduction and objectives: Distension of the ischemic region has been related to an increased incidence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias following coronary occlusion. This study analyzed whether regional ischemic distension predicts increased ventricular fibrillation inducibility after coronary occlusion in swine. Methods: In 18 anesthet...

The cause of coronary vasoconstriction in patients with angina at rest, nonsignificant coronary stenosis, and endothelial dysfunction remains unknown. Our objective was to investigate the association between enhanced coronary vasoconstriction and increased circulating levels of vasoconstrictor agents. Plasma levels of big endothelin-1, serotonin, a...

Ischemic postconditioning has been demonstrated to limit infarct size in patients, but its molecular mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Low intracellular pH (pHi) inhibits mitochondrial permeability transition, calpain activation and hypercontracture. Recently, delayed normalization of pHi during reperfusion has been shown to play an import...

The beneficial effects of restoration of coronary flow in patients with acute myocardial infarction may be hampered by inadequate tissue perfusion. Among other factors, it is likely that platelets contribute substantially to this phenomenon. Platelets may compromise blood flow at the microvascular level by forming a part of microemboli, by adhering...

Reperfusion injury may cause myocardial cell death and limit the benefit achieved by restoration of coronary artery patency in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The mechanism includes altered Ca(2+) handling with cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca(2+) overload, Ca(2+)- and ATP-dependent hypercontraction, cytoskeletal fragility, mitochondrial p...

Ischemia-reperfusion causes endothelial dysfunction. Prolongation of acidosis during initial cardiac reperfusion limits infarct size in animal models, but the effects of acidic reperfusion on vascular function are unknown. The present work analyzes the effects of acidic reoxygenation on vascular responses to different agonists in rat aortic rings....

Activated platelets might contribute to endothelial dysfunction in non-ischaemic territories during acute myocardial infarction. We assessed platelet deposition, coronary flow reserve and contractile function in remote cardiac regions after transient coronary occlusion and their association with systemic platelet activation. In 10 pigs (series A) s...

Increased mechanical tension in the ischemic region during acute coronary occlusion might favor the occurrence of phase Ib ventricular arrhythmias. We aimed to investigate whether intracoronary administration of Gd(3+), a stretch-activated channel blocker, into the ischemic zone reduces the incidence of these arrhythmias. In thiopental-anesthetized...

The goal of this study was to assess whether selectin blockade reduces myocardial platelet deposition and platelet-mediated injury after transient ischemia. Selectins participate in platelet adhesion to reperfused endothelium. Thiopental-anesthetized, open-chest pigs were subjected to mechanical injury of the left anterior descending coronary arter...

It has been shown that sarcolemmal rupture can occur during reenergization in cardiomyocytes in which previous ischemia has induced sarcolemmal fragility by calpain-dependent hydrolysis of structural proteins. We tested the hypothesis that attenuated calpain activation contributes to the protection against reperfusion-induced cell death afforded by...

The mechanism by which inhibition of Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE) reduces cell death in ischemic-reperfused myocardium remains controversial. This study investigated whether cariporide could inhibit mitochondrial NHE during ischemia, delaying H+ gradient dissipation and ATP exhaustion. Mouse cardiac myocytes (HL-1) were submitted to 1 h of simulated isch...

Portal hypertension induces neuroendocrine activation and a hyperkinetic circulation state. This study investigated the consequences of portal hypertension on heart structure and function. Intrahepatic portal hypertension was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by chronic bile duct ligation (CBDL). Six weeks later, CBDL rats showed higher plasma an...

The effect of simulated ischemia [hypoxia, no glucose, extracellular pH (pH(o)) 6.4] on cGMP synthesis induced by stimulation of soluble (sGC) or particulate guanylyl cyclase (pGC) was investigated in adult rat cardiomyocytes. Intracellular cGMP content was measured after stimulation of sGC by S-nitroso-N-penicillamine (SNAP) or stimulation of pGC...

Inhibition of Na(+)-H(+) exchange (NHE) delays the onset of myocardial rigor contracture during ischemia. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of NHE inhibition on cell-to-cell electrical uncoupling during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. Twenty-six isolated rat hearts and 23 in situ porcine hearts were submitted to no-flow ischemia fol...

Objective: Inhibition of Na+-H+ exchange (NHE) delays the onset of myocardial rigor contracture during ischemia. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of NHE inhibition, on cell-to-cell electrical uncoupling during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. Methods: Twenty-six isolated rat hearts and 23 in situ porcine hearts were submitted to no-...

Myocardial stretch induces several electrophysiological changes and arrhythmias, but little is known on its possible role in triggering ventricular fibrillation (VF) during acute coronary occlusion. In thiopental-anesthetized, open-chest pigs submitted to a 40-min ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, the association between the...

To characterize the effects of ischemia on cGMP synthesis in microvascular endothelium, cultured endothelial cells from adult rat hearts were exposed to hypoxia or normoxia at pH 6.4 or 7.4. Cellular cGMP and soluble (sGC) and membrane guanylyl cyclase (mGC) activities were measured after stimulation of sGC (S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine) or mGC...

Platelets (Plt) accumulate in reperfused myocardium but their effect on myocardial necrosis has not been established. We tested the hypothesis that the effect of Plt depends on their activation status. Pig Plt were obtained before 48 min of coronary occlusion (pre-CO-Plt), 10 min after reperfusion (R-Plt), or after a 60-min sham operation (sham-Plt...

There is recent evidence that Ca(2+) influx via reverse mode Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange (NCX) at the time of reperfusion can contribute to cardiomyocyte hypercontracture. However, forward NCX is essential for normalization of [Ca(2+)](i) during reperfusion, and its inhibition may be detrimental. This study investigates the effect of NCX inhibition with...

It has been shown that cGMP content is reduced in post-ischemic myocardium, and that stimulation of cGMP synthesis prevents cardiomyocyte hypercontracture and cell death in vitro. This study was aimed at determining whether administration of the natriuretic peptide urodilatin (URO) at the time of reperfusion could limit myocardial cell death second...

Stimulation of cGMP synthesis protects cardiomyocytes against reoxygenation-induced hypercontracture. The purpose of this study was to determine whether L-arginine supplementation has a protective effect against reperfusion-induced hypercontracture and necrosis in the intact animal. Twenty-four Large-White pigs were randomized to receive either 100...

Hypercontracture is an important mechanism of myocyte death during reperfusion. cGMP modulates the sensitivity of contractile myofilaments to Ca2+, and increasing cGMP concentration during the last minutes of anoxia prevents reoxygenation-induced hypercontracture in isolated cardiomyocytes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether stimula...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of L-arginine supplementation on myocardial cell death secondary to hypoxia-reoxygenation. Isolated rat hearts (n = 51) subjected to 40 min of hypoxia and 90 min of reoxygenation received 3 mM L-arginine and/or 1 microM 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ; a selective inhibitor...

Metallothioneins (MTs) are a family of low molecular weight proteins which in rodents comprise four isoforms (MT-I to -IV). MT-I+II are widely expressed isoforms which are highly inducible by factors such as heavy metals and a number of hormones. The expression of these isoforms in the brain has been regarded as basically astrocytic, and to a lower...

Ca2+ entry induced by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) in neurons and by noradrenaline (NA) in astrocytes is known to increase intracellular cyclic GMP (cGMP) levels through stimulation of the Ca2+-dependent nitric oxide synthase type I (NOS-I). The possibility that Ca2+ entry could also down-regulate intracellular cGMP by activating a Ca2+/calmodulin-d...

Cyclic GMP (cGMP) formation induced by agonist stimulation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent nitric oxide (NO) synthase type I is known to occur in both granule cell and astrocyte cultures from rat cerebellum. Here we show that in these same cells cGMP is predominantly hydrolyzed by a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphodiesterase. At 10 microM cGMP, Ca2+...

We have previously reported that stimulation of astrocyte cultures by particular agonists and calcium ionophores induces cyclic GMP formation through activation of a constitutive nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and that astrocytes from cerebellum show the largest response. In the present work we have used rat cerebellar astrocyteenriched primary cultur...

We have previously demonstrated nitric oxide (NO)-dependent cyclic GMP (cGMP) formation in response to noradrenaline (NA) and glutamate (GLU) in astrocyte-enriched cultures from rat cerebrum. In the present work we show heterogeneity in agonist responses in astrocyte cultures from cerebellum, hippocampus and cortex. The response to NA was higher in...

Treatment of rat cerebellar astrocyte-enriched primary cultures with dexamethasone enhances the nitric oxide-dependent cyclic GMP formation induced by noradrenaline in a time-(> 6 h) and concentration-dependent manner (half-maximal effect at 1 nM). Stimulation of cyclic GMP formation by the calcium ionophore A23187 is similarly enhanced. In contras...

Cyclic GMP accumulation induced by noradrenaline in astrocyte-enriched primary cultures from rat cerebrum involves synthesis of NO, as evidenced by the competitive inhibition exerted by the NO synthase inhibitor NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (IC50 = 3 microM). Furthermore, the noradrenaline effect was potently inhibited by haemoglobin (IC50 = 25 nM) and...

The ability of various compounds to stimulate cyclic GMP accumulation was studied in neuronal and astrocyte-enriched primary cultures from rat cerebrum. Glutamate was the only agonist eliciting a response in neurons whereas several agonists had an effect in astrocytes but only those due to norepinephrine and glutamate were of considerable magnitude...

Norepinephrine induces a rapid and concentration-dependent rise (EC50 = 1.21 +/- 0.33 microM) in cyclic GMP levels in astrocyte-enriched cultures from rat brain. The response is partially mediated by alpha 1-adrenoceptors since a marked inhibition is observed in the presence of prazosin while the beta-antagonist propranolol shows a smaller effect a...

Histamine stimulates cyclic AMP accumulation in astrocyte-enriched and neuronal primary cultures from rat brain in the presence of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor isobutylmethylxanthine. The response in the astrocyte cultures (Emax = 304 +/- 44% over basal, EC50 = 43 +/- 5 microM) was much higher than in neuronal cultures (Emax = 24 +/- 2%, EC50 =...

Glycine and beta-alanine actively loaded into brain synaptic plasma membrane vesicles were released into the external medium by using the classical depolarization agents high K+ and veratridine. This release occurs via a Ca2+-independent process. Measurements of membrane depolarization using tetraphenylphosphonium uptake show a close correlation be...

The efflux and exchange of beta-alanine were studied in synaptic plasma membrane vesicles from rat brain. The mechanism of beta-alanine translocation has been probed by comparing the ion dependence of net efflux to that of exchange. Dilution-induced efflux requires the simultaneous presence of internal sodium and chloride ions while influx is depen...